Feb. 1, 2022

Contact Mary Ellen Haupert at 608-796-3770 or mehaupert@viterbo.edu

VITERBO UNIVERSITY CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES CELEBRATING MUSICAL MENTORS CONTINUES FEB. 13

LA CROSSE, Wis. – The third concert of the Viterbo University Out-of-Our-Minds Chamber Music Series will be performed in the Fine Arts Center Nola Starling Recital Hall at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13.

This season’s series features the first three Op. 101 piano trios by Czech-born composer Anton Reicha, an underrepresented composer who is known more for his youthful friendship with Beethoven than for his music. This concert series brings Reicha’s talent as both composer and teacher to the stage, featuring the second Grand Trio Concertant for Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 101 and works by two of his students, Louise Farrenc and Charles Gounod.

Reicha was an esteemed teacher of composition who left a legacy at the Paris Conservatory of Music. He taught his students to be creative and innovative as composers, while offering encouragement and practical technique. 

 “One only has to listen to the works of Liszt, Franck, Berlioz, and Farrenc to note his/her own unique style,” said Mary Ellen Haupert, Viterbo music faculty member. “Anton Reicha was the very best brand of teacher because he helped to unlock each composer’s voice, while humbly ceding his role in the face of his students’ accomplishments.”

Farrenc’s Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 39 will be performed by Nancy Oliveros and Mary Ellen Haupert. Oliveros is a founding member of the Artaria String quartet and has performed frequently with Haupert. The two recorded the sonata 10 years ago on a CD, “Deux Sonates de Chambre” (CENTAUR) which also featured Farrenc’s cello sonata. James Wilson, Viterbo’s new director of choral studies, will perform Charles Gounod’s O ma belle rebelle, accompanied by Haupert.  

The centerpiece of this concert will be Anton Reicha’s Grand Trio Concertant for Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 101, No. 2, published as the second of six trios in 1824 and dedicated to his friend Amedée Ardisson. Haupert has been working on an edition of the six Op. 101 trios and plans to perform them over the next two years with the 2 Sisters Trio (violinist Kristina Gullion, cellist Monika Sutherland, and pianist Mary Ellen Haupert).

The concert is free and open to the public. There will be a free will offering to cover artist fees and marketing expenses. Masks are required to be worn in all indoor public spaces on the Viterbo campus.

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